Naval Aviator

I have had way more than my share of great good luck in my
life. A perfect example is that I discovered I liked and was farily
good at being a Naval Pilot. This had been my dream from the time
I was 10 years old even though during all that time I had no real
understanding of what life as a Naval Aviator would be like.
I loved the sights, sounds and smells of high performance flying
machines. I enjoyed being catapulted off of aircraft carriers.
Formation flying, in-flight refueling, bombing and gunnery
all were challenging and fun for me. Every day I thought this is
a super way to live my life.
In a Navy squadron, all the pilots fly the same type of airplane.
As I looked around on our aircraft carrier, there were pilots from
other squadrons flying other types. I wanted to fly
those as well. I understood if you could become a test pilot,
you would be flying all the planes that Navy had.
Because of my Aeronautical Engineering background, I was selected
to attend the Navy Test Pilot School. It was here I met Charles
"Pete" Conrad, my performance instructor, and he and I became
good friends.
Upon graduation from Test Pilot School, I was assigned to the Service
Test Division. Every day was an adventure for me and I believed
that I had the perfect job for a guy like me.
Then one day after a test flight, I walked into the ready room
and everybody was watching the small black-and-white television.
Someone said there was this guy, Alan Shepard, who was a Astronaut,
who was sitting on top of a rocket. I had no idea what was about
to take place but I stopped to watch. In his 15-minute flight, he
had flown higher than I ever been, faster than I every gone, and
made a lot more noise doing it. Maybe he had the perfect job for
a guy like me.
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